Tuesday, November 28, 2006

BEFORE THEY WERE SOAP STARS: JERRY LANNING

For the duration of TEXAS's run from August 1980 to December 1982, Jerry Lanning played hotheaded Justin Marshall, a cowboy with a bit of an anger management problem -- and a serious eye for the ladies.

Those who only know him from his work on daytime, may be surprised to learn that, before he was a soap star, Jerry appeared in the original Broadway production of Mame, with Angela Lansbury.

Click here to listen to him perform The Letter as Mame's all grown up nephew, Patrick. And who is that singing the role of Young Patrick, you may ask. None other than child actor Frankie Michaels who also once took a crack at the role of -- who else -- ATWT's Tom Hughes!

Wednesday's Inside the Light takes a page from the 1958 classic Tony Curtis/Sidney Poitier film when a road trip for the Lewis boys, Josh (Robert Newman) and Billy (Jordan Clarke), goes a bit awry (as you can see from the above photo -- and its humorous outtake).

On the current episodes of Search for Tomorrow running on the AOL/PGP Classic Soap Channel, brothers Chase and Alec Kendall are involved in the music business, complete with their own, American Bandstand type television show.

Music and soaps, of course, have a long history of going hand in hand.

In 1960, As The World Turns had a hit with Penny, love-theme for daytime's first supercouple, Penny and Jeff.

In 1976, Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci's use of Y&R's theme song turned it into an international sensation.

And by the 1980s, General Hospital had pretty much turned soap-opera music hit making into an art form.

Not just Rick Springfield (Noah) with Jessie's Girl and Jack Wagner (Frisco) with All I Need and Lady of My Heart, but tunes like Baby, Come To Me and Think of Laura got new lives when used on the show.

Baby, Come To Me, a Patti Austin duet with James Ingram, peaked at number 73 on the Hot 100 in early 1982. After being used as Luke and Holly's love theme, the song re-entered the pop chart in October and went to number one in early 1983. It is still Patti's biggest hit to date.

After his success with Arthur's Theme, Christopher Cross had only one more Top 40 hit. Think of Laura, which was used for Genie Francis' return to the show in 1983.

In 1986, DOOL generated the #1 single, Friends and Lovers, originally the love theme for Kimberly and Shane.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

MEN OF MANY FACES

My earlier post about the many faces of ATWT's Tom Hughes got me to thinking: It seems that almost every soap has one character that keeps getting cast and recast constantly, changing visages as well as personalities with every incarnation. And that character is usually a member of a core family, to boot.

Besides Tom, there was Chris Hughes on ATWT, whom 4 different actors couldn't quite make work as a teen or an adult; Joey/Jake Martin on AMC, also with four strike-outs; GH's Tom Hardy, and, of course, OLTL's many, many Kevin Buchanans -- #11, Dan Gauthier is on his way out as we speak.

(Over on Another World, Jamie Frame had 10 portrayers from 1970 to 1993, while Search for Tomorrow's Patti Barron was practically the female Tom Hughes, played by everyone from a pigtailed Lynn Loring to, eventually, GL's Tina Sloan and ATWT's Jacqueline Schultz).

The reason for these characters being so problematic is two-fold.

One the one hand, these are characters that TPTB are tempted to bring back again and again specifically because they are such a huge part of the canvas. Their absence is noticeable, and their presence is a simple way to introduce a new face with instant ties to the old. (Who would ATWT viewers rather welcome, another Chris Hughes, or some heretofore never mentioned Hughes cousin?)

But the problem with returning to the same character over and over again is that someone we saw grow up on the canvas offers less freedom for a writer to exercise his story options.

When Ben Reade returned to Guiding Light and eventually was revealed to be a disturbed serial killer, viewers objected. They remembered the cute little Ben who palled around with cute little Michelle Bauer and Bill Lewis (another frequently recast pair) and couldn't believe that their little guy could grow up to become a killer, even though it was explained that Ben's disturbance stemmed from being sexually molested while at boarding school and off the show.

It's hard to offer such soap staples as deep dark secrets and/or a traumatic past when viewers remember you having cookies after school with Grandma. (Not that the writers don't try. Any minute spent away from home is fair game. AW's Sally Frame turned out to have given birth to an illegitimate child while away at nursing school. Tom Hardy secretly married a Black woman in the few minutes his parents weren't looking. Tom Hughes fathered a daughter in Vietnam.)

Such storyline straitjacketing is my guess as to why these core characters have such a hard time catching fire.

The Guiding Light baby everyone has been talking about for months and months finally makes her appearance in Springfield this holiday season.

Of course, being a soap opera, it's hardly an uncomplicated delivery. As you can see from the photos above, Lizzie (Marcy Rylan) goes into labor at a most inconvenient location, with a pair of nervous birth coaches by her side.

Alan (Ron Raines) seems particularly unhappy about the whole thing.

In the end, however, this half-Shayne/half-Spaulding (and isn't that a thought to strike horror in the heart of any potential babysitters) pulls through like a champ.

Longtime viewers should approve of the name Lizzie and Jonathan (Tom Pelphrey) decide to bestow on their little girl.

To watch the birth of Baby Randall, you can't miss next week on Guiding Light!

For a week, and at practically every primetime commercial break, NBC taunted viewers with this earnestly whispered cheerleader-saving imperative, promoting Homecoming, the Nov. 20 episode of Heroes, in which both the audience and the super-powered characters finally learn their destiny. But when the episode was over, neither viewers nor the so-called heroes knew much more than they did in the episode a week before.

Of course, longtime viewers of Guiding Light have known a secret about Hayden Panettiere, who plays aforementioned cheerleader, for quite some time now.

She is none other than little Lizzie Spaulding (photo above)!

Currently on GL, Lizzie, as played by Marcy Rylan, is preparing to give birth (and use her newborn baby as a way to entrap the Daddy forever), while Lizzie's grandfather, Alan, gleefully rubs his hands together and twirls his evil mustache (okay, it's more of a beard) in anticipation of snatching the tot for himself.

All in all, it's hard to say whose life -- superpoweredered cheerleader's or the mom-to-be's -- is more dramatic, these days.

(Fun Fact: Hayden Panettiere and Marcy Rylan co-star in the direct-to-DVD film Bring it On - All or Nothing. That's two -- two! -- Lizzies for the price of one!)

Meanwhile, back in Oakdale, Lily has recently given birth to her fourth child and second son, Ethan Walsh Snyder. Of course, poor Lily was in a coma at the time (Martha was on maternity leave with Annmarie), so there wouldn't have been much for A Baby Story to shoot, had they been interested.

(Photo above: Lily with her firstborn son, Luke (Van Hansis) and his biological father, Damian (Paolo Seganti). Luciano Eduardo then-Grimaldi now-Snyder was born on the air in May of 1995, the only one of Lily's TV children whose birth wasn't triggered by Martha Byrne's real-life pregnancy. Awfully strapping for an 11 year old, isn't he?)

Nicolas Coster and Judith McConnell, who went on to play ex-lovers Lionel and Sophia on Santa Barbara, here appear as bad boy Robert Delaney and not so good Miranda Bishop. (Coster also played Lisa's most recent husband, Eduardo, on ATWT and appeared as one of her earlier ones, John, on the ATWT primetime spin-off, Our Private World.)

Robert impregnated naive Clarice, married Iris, then abandoned them both, along with his son, Cory. A few years later, after Clarice had married Larry and was providing her child with a happy home, Robert returned... just wanting to chat with Clarice, nothing more. (Yeah, right....)

Wealthy Miranda, meanwhile, was busy judging her niece, Kit, for taking up with working class Joey, while Miranda was, in fact, having a long-standing affair with Kit's father -- Miranda's brother-in-law!

To check out Lionel and Sophia (sorry, Robert and Miranda), go to our broadcast of Another World now!

Friday, November 17, 2006

FLASHBACK: SEARCH FOR TOMORROW

As As The World Turns prepares to finish off a year that saw them celebrate 50 years on the air, and Guiding Light barrels towards their 70th Anniversary in January of 2007, the PGP Classic Soaps Blog takes a look back at 1986, and Search for Tomorrow's celebration of its 35th year in broadcasting.

Twenty years later, note the three names that The New York Times dubbed "TV hunks capable of triggering endless romantic complications.... the McCleary brothers, Hogan (David Forsyth), Quinn (Jeff Meek) and Cagney (Matthew Ashford)."

Thursday, November 16, 2006

At the end of today's episode of Guiding Light, the show put up a tribute card to Philip Dixson.

Known affectionately as Phil to all of his colleagues, Dixson, 64, died of complications from lung cancer at his home in Piermont, New York on Friday morning, November 10.

Dixson had spent the past 26 years working in the daytime television industry for the benefit of Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc. At the time of his death, he was the Senior Vice President, Managing Director of TeleVest Daytime Programs overseeing the production of As The World Turns and Guiding Light.

In November 1980, Dixson was recruited from CBS by the advertising agency Benton & Bowles, which at the time produced several Procter & Gamble dramatic serials including Another World, The Edge of Night, Search For Tomorrow and Texas. Dixson oversaw the program and production operations of all these shows at one time or another.

"With Phil’s passing, the entire daytime community and the television industry at large have lost a loyal friend," says Pat Gentile, North American Programming Manager for Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc. "He was a consummate professional even as his illness started to take its toll on him. I feel lucky to have had Phil as my mentor and personal tutor for the past 12 years and, as we all will, I’ll miss him dearly.”

Born on November 21, 1941 in Appleton, Wisconsin, Dixson began his entertainment career at the Attic Theatre in Appleton by lugging scenery and cases of soft drinks during intermission. Throughout his high school and college years, Dixson’s interest in theatre arts grew and he returned home each summer to work as a technical director, production manager or designer on 29 plays at the Attic. Dixson holds a B.A. in English from Holy Cross College and an M.F.A. from the Yale University School of Drama in Technical Production, Design, Lighting and Administration.

He was a trustee of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, a member of the Board of Governors of the New York Chapter of N.A.T.A.S. and was a founding member, Vice President and Secretary of the New York Production Alliance.

He was also a huge fan and supporter of the daytime genre, its producers, actors, writers and staff and will be missed by all who were lucky enough to know him.

Like Gwen (Jennifer Landon) and Will (Jesse Lee Soffer), ATWT's Lily (Martha Byrne) and Holden (Jon Hensley) were still high-school age when they pledged their undying love.

Like Lily and Holden, Gwen and Will faced a gamut of crises ranging from parental interference (hi, Lucinda; hi, Barbara) to a third party pregnancy (hi, Emily and Julie; hi, Jade), all before becoming old enough to drink (which probably would have helped).

Twenty years after they first met though, Lily and Holden are still together, and raising four kids (three of them actually biologically theirs!).

So what do you all think? Do Gwen and Will have it in them to become the next Lily and Holden?

In the episodes of TEXAS currently airing on the AOL/PGP Classic Soaps Channel, Iris Cory is hiding a whopper of a secret. Seems that a youthful tryst with Alex Wheeler left her pregnant. Iris covered up the indiscretion (and her embarrassment at being unceremoniously dumped by Alex) by quickly marrying Elliot Carrington and letting him believe Dennis was his son.

As plots go, this one is a soap opera staple. Every show has at least one variation of it on the air.

My question is, how does these women pull it off?

Time-wise, I mean.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and believe that they are so in touch with their bodies that they figure out they're pregnant within two weeks of conception. So that gives them nine months to meet another guy, charm him, seduce him, marry him, announce the honeymoon night pregnancy and then deliver the little (premature?) bundle of joy.

That's a pretty tight schedule.

The only way I figure so many have been able to get away with it for so long (despite the obvious -- all women on daytime are gorgeous, ergo a quick seduction isn't that much of a challenge) is due to the popular, public misconception that a pregnancy lasts nine months.

It doesn't. The average pregnancy is 40 weeks. Which (40 divided by 4) is actually ten months.

Meaning our heroine has an extra month in which to get all her lying and cover stories straight.

And this is daytime. We know how much can happen in one month!

So how will Alex, Dennis and Elliot react when they learn the secret Iris has been keeping for twenty-plus years? Tune into TEXAS today and find out!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

CBS has announced it will burn off the remaining episodes of the Ray Liotta crime show on its Innertube broadband Web site.... The three previously aired episodes and the four unaired episodes of Smith will run on Innertube free, starting today, for the next four weeks.

Yes, yes, I know, Sharon and Dru are currently bonding up a storm on Y&R. Call me when it lasts for more than 10 minutes.

GL's Cassie, Harley and Blake had lunch once or twice. A couple of years ago.

GH's Brenda and Lois were friends. Where's either of them now?

AMC's Bianca and Babe had a good thing going. Except for the baby-stealing issue.

Heck, the closest thing to a female-based friendship on daytime the past few years has been ATWT's Katie and Emily. But they weren't friends with each other. They simply took turns leaching onto Henry. A man. (Who does, however, put on women's clothing quite a bit...)

Little Susan initially made her GL debut on the same day as Harley. In 1987, viewers got their first glimpse of Harley Davidson Cooper (Beth Ehlers) in the back-seat of Frank's car, legs in the air, giving birth. Alan-Michael crashed his (well, technically, it was "borrowed") motorcycle into the vehicle, requiring Dinah to deliver Harley's baby girl, whom Harley named "Daisy" after the flower her dad, Dylan, used to bring Harley (before he went to jail).

Deciding that her daughter deserved a better life, Harley gave Daisy up for adoption (with then-best friend, Dinah, who had serious adoption issues of her own, by her side). Daisy's new parents called her Susan.

In 1989, Dylan returned to Springfield and, upon learning he had a daughter, got a job doing yardwork for her adoptive parents, Connie and Jim Lemay. Convinced that Susan was in a good home, Dylan decided to leave the Lemays alone. But, Alan-Michael, then married to Harley, thought the best way to keep his wife away from Dylan was to offer the Lemays a hunk of cash to give up their daughter. The Lemays, politely, told Alan-Michael to go to hell. Undaunted (he is a Spaulding, after all), Alan-Michael kidnapped the little girl. Harley gave her back.

In 1994, Dylan was dealing with another adoption triangle when his girlfriend, Bridget, fought Dylan's former stepmother, Vanessa, for custody of Peter, Bridget's biological son whom Vanessa and Billy had adopted (this was after Harley's mother, Nadine, tried to pass the boy off as her's and Billy's). Dylan grew sympathetic to Bridget's cause after the Lemays came to him with a request to donate bone marrow to a sick Susan -- without seeing the girl. Dylan did.

Four years later, a pre-teen Susan (Brittany Snow) showed up on Harley's doorstop, explaining that her mother had died and claiming that her father, Jim, was neglectful. That proved to be untrue and both Susan and Jim ended up becoming a part of Harley's life. Jim married Beth and raised her and Phillip's son, James, as his own, before dying in a fire saving Susan, Lizzie and James from a fire on Christmas Day 2000.

Telling Harley that she was "technically an orphan," Susan declined the chance to live with her biological mother (she was actually closer to stepmother Beth) and, instead, left for boarding school a few months later. Since then, she and Harley have kept in touch -- off-screen.

Bonnie Dennison assumes the role on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007. She has previously appeared on Third Watch and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

1) James Madden (1963)2) Jerry Schaffer (1963)3) Frankie Michaels (1964-1966; above with Don Hastings as Daddy Bob)4) Richard Thomas (1966-1967; Yup, the future John-Boy Walton. Eileen Fulton (Lisa) recalls that make-up had a heck of a time trying to cover up the birthmark on his cheek)5) Paul O'Keefe (1967-1968: These were Tom's most troubled years. He became a dug addict and a thief, then shot himself in the leg to get out of serving in Vietnam. You can't really blame him, I suppose. Who sends a seven year old to serve?)6) Peter Link (1969)7) Peter Galman (1969-1974)8) C. David Colson (1973-1978)9) Tom Tammi (1979-1980)10) Justin Deas (1981-1984; now Buzz on GL and married to the original Margo, Margaret Colin)11) Gregg Marx (1984-1987; a nephew of the Marx Brothers)12) Scott Holmes (1987 - now)

I was wondering if P&G might be able to put classic shows of Guiding Light on the AOL web site in time for the shows 70th anniversary.

Hi, Kevin -

P&G is currently in the process of finalizing exactly what their 70th Anniversary celebration in January 2007 will be. Rest assured that classic GL will definitely be part of the equation. Stay tuned for details!

Monday, November 13, 2006

If you missed out on watching Inturn, the online As the World Turns acting contest that rewarded the winner with a 13-week contract, then you can tune in to CBS for a special compilation episode.

Inturn put eight young participants through the ringer, which included such acting challenges as cold readings and screen tests. As they were narrowed down to three, each actor was written into the soap to play a character during the summer slasher story line. Viewers then voted for their favourite.

On Friday, November 24 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET/3 p.m. to 4 p.m. PT, Inturn will air as a special one-hour episode on CBS, so you can see the whole process if you missed it online, including your favourite ATWT stars as judges and coaches to the newbies!

It's a perennial question: Does Guiding Light's Alan Spaulding have a heart or not?

Personally, I've always believed that he genuinely loves his son, Phillip. (His other kids... eh, whatever). Granted, his method for expressing that love leaves much to be desired, but the feeling is there. (And, in a genre where "You love so-and-so more because he's your real son, not like me," is the popular refrain, I've always gotten a kick out of the twist that it's his non-biological child that Alan favors over his many biological off-spring).

But what about the women in his life? How does Alan really feel about them?

When it comes to wives, he was vaguely sympathetic to Elizabeth, amused by Jackie, Reva was in a coma when they wed so who knows what was going on there, Olivia was probably the only woman he'd ever met more bloodthirsty than he was and Beth... there's a reverse Oedipal thing going on here that I really don't want to touch.

Plus there were the meaningless dalliances with Jennifer (who was also apparently doing his dad), Diane (who ended up dead), Rita (who'd sleep with anyone), Vanessa (who must have been temporarily insane), Regina/Lucia (who enjoyed their affair so much she became a nun), India and Blake (two other Phillip cast-offs but, at least in that case, both women were way too mature for the son and more logically paired with the father), Annie and Claire (runners-up to Olivia in the cold-blooded category) and Tangie (whom he did find sort of interesting, if only because she seemed to be named after a citrus fruit).

That leaves Hope, Alan-Michael's mother and the only woman, IMHO, that the great Alan Spaulding ever truly loved.

They met in 1979, when he was already a wheeler-dealer tycoon with a criminal rap sheet everyone knew about but no one could prove, and she was the daughter of Springfield stalwart Mike Bauer, fresh from design school, young, beautiful and innocent.

Hope and Alan traded barbs when she was hired to design a villa he'd purchased in St. Lucia for then-wife, Jackie. They were flying back home from the tropics when their plane went down, the pilot killed, and Alan and Hope left to wash up on an uninhabited island.

Alan became ill, Hope nursed him and, as these things are wont to happen, the couple fell in love. Hope brought out the best in Alan. Which surprised even him.

Alan and Hope married in 1980 (see photo above with Christopher Bernau as Alan and Elvera Roussel as Hope), much to the disgust of her father, who was certain that Alan was involved in helping the devious Roger Thorpe fake his death and escape justice (Mike was right but, as is often the case with Alan, couldn't prove it). Hope sided with Alan over Mike and broke off contact with her father.

In 1981, Alan proved his love for Hope by actually choosing her over his precious Phillip and agreeing to let his birth parents, Jackie and Justin, have custody of the boy after Hope threatened to leave him if he didn't.

Afterwards, however, Alan fell into bed with social climber Rita (guess he resented Hope a bit more than he initially thought; a valuable lesson here for all future Spaulding wives -- you can do whatever you like to Alan, but don't mess with Phillip). And though the birth of little Alan-Michael did temporarily reconcile Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding, life with Alan soon drove Hope to drink -- literally. For her own sanity and the future of her son, Hope divorced Alan in 1983 and moved to New York.

But, thanks to Hope, we do know that Alan Spaulding was capable of falling in love once.

Could he do it again? Tune in to GL every weekday on CBS and find out!

AS THE SET TURNSPaul Hickey...who has been nominated for an Emmy 13 times, retired last year after 28 years with the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns.

Hickey told his audience of about 50 Society members and guests of the long working days required to produce the dramas, popularly known as "soaps." He said the actors, producers, directors arrive on the sets every weekday as early as 6:30 a.m. for make-up, rehearsal and live taping, and stay until at least 6 p.m.

"We are on the air 52 weeks a year," he said, "so that requires a lot of hours of live, perfectly taped shows."

Henry Slesar, two-time winner of the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award, had a prodigous output of mystery fiction, including more than 450 short stories, seven mystery novels, three features, and more than 100 primetime teleplays.

He scripted more stories for the "Alfred Hitchcock" TV show than any other writer. His longest writing assignment was for the daytime mystery serial "The Edge of Night." For fifteen yeards he was the head writer of the suspense soap, writing all the stories and the vast majority of the scripts. Among "Edge of Night's" devoted fans were P.G. Wodehouse, Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead. "TV Guide" once featured Henry Slesar as "The Writer with the Biggest Audience in America" when he was the head writer on two leading soaps.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

A DIFFERENT KIND OF SPOILER

This afternoon, Thursday, November 9, ATWT's Katie will attempt to sort out her feelings for her husband, Mike, and her ex-husband, Simon, by putting her thoughts down in writing (she is a best-selling author, you know).

But, as is wont to happen in the wonderful world of daytime, those pages (technically a computer file labeled Oakdale Confidential) eventually end up in the wrong hands and all hell breaks loose.

But before that happens, heck, even before Katie writes them on the air, you, loyal readers of the PGP Classic Soaps blog, can get a sneak peek at how Katie really feels about her two-man dilemma, by clicking here.

Terri Garber returns to ATWT Monday, November 20 (just in time for Thanksgiving). Gwen isn't particularly excited to see the former jailbird. On the other hand, Iris is very excited to hear that Gwen is on the cusp of major singing stardom. She decides to stay a while and see how things play out. (Well, there's also the fact that her parole orders Iris to stay within city limits).

Prior to joining ATWT, Garber appeared on the daytime soap, TEXAS (now screening on the AOL/PGP Classic Soap Channel), the primetime soap, DYNASTY, and as a scheming, Southern belle on that behemoth of an 80s mini-series, North and South (see photo above).

On Wednesday, November 15, GL's Dinah (Gina Tognoni) gets a little insight into her on-again/off-again (currently off-again) relationship with A.C. Mallet (Rob Bogue), courtesy of a day spent with her sister, Clarissa.

Arielle Fleisher takes over the role of Ross and Blake's daughter.

Little Clarissa was conceived in 1999, after her divorcing parents spent a passion-filled day locked in their bathroom (some people like flowers, champagne, candlelight, some people like... faucets; its the diversity that makes this country great).

Blake decided not to tell Ross about the baby, thinking he was involved with her mother, Holly, and instead withdrew to the Bauer cabin. There, Blake wrote her first romance novel, the tale of a mother and daughter in love with the same man. In the book, the Holly character was called Clarissa.

Ross eventually got his hands on the manuscript, put two and two together and showed up at the cabin to confront Blake on Christmas Eve -- just as she was going into labor.

Ross delivered the baby, Blake confessed that she was his and they decided to name her after the heroine in Blake's book.

After reuniting her parents, it shouldn't be too hard for the little girl to do the same for Dinah and Mallet, should it? After all, Clarissa even gets Dinah to take her to a carnival, a place Dinah (due to bad memories from her childhood), usually avoids like the plague.

At the carnival, a fortune teller makes an intriguing prediction about a great love in Dinah's future.... Tune in Wednesday, November 15 to Guiding Light and see if it comes true!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

ATWT SING-A-LONG

Songbird Gwen (Jennifer Landon) and her producer/brother-in-law, Adam, head to the recording studio on Thursday, November 16th to record the song both hope will launch her into superstardom. (Isn't it cool to have a brother-in-law producer and a husband with a trust-fund to bankroll it all? Bet Gwen never expected this to happen back when she was living in her little room, pregnant with Casey's baby and trying to balance school with working at Al's).

Gwen's song is titled Slide, written by Nini Camps, and, just like Gwen, actress Landon headed for a NYC recording studio on November 1st to record it.

Slide, as performed by Jennifer Landon, will be available for download at www.iTunes.com.

As we reported back in September, Marah Lewis is on her way home to Springfield, played by Kimberly J. Brown, who last played the role as a little girl.

Here is a sneak peak at her appearance, which kicks off on November 17, with a Mom (Kim Zimmer) and Dad (Robert Newman) heart-to-heart.

Since leaving GL in 1998, Kimberly has appeared in the award-winning Tumbleweeds, lent her voice to A Bug's Life, terrified TV audiences in Rose Red, and made movie-goers laugh in Bringing Down the House. Her upcoming project is the scare-fest, Big Bad Wolf.

Make sure to tune in starting November 17 for a glimpse at how our little Kimberly has grown up!

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Regular readers of this blog know that sometimes I like to put up pictures of pretty people being pretty for no reason save that pretty people are... pretty.

And, quite frankly, I don't know of many people who are prettier than the above duo, GL's John Driscoll (Coop) and Michelle Ray Smith (Ava).

Make sure you tune in Wednesday, November 8, for a special Inside the Light that not only illuminates the exact details of Ava's origins, but also Olivia and Jeffrey's past, as well as this new Springfield family's future. (Hint: They don't all group hug and become the new Bauers).

WORLD TURNS, CUBAN STYLEAs the World Turns, the first show to feature a gay, male character on daytime, won the GLAAD Award for their ground-breaking story in 1990.

Fifteen years later, core-family member Luke Snyder (Van Hansis), was (and still is) featured in a tale about a teen's coming out to his family and community. ATWT joined with GLAAD to produce and air a PSA urging viewers to "Be an Ally and a Friend" to those in a similar predicament.

Other soaps, like AMC, OLTL, GH and PASSIONS have recently told stories of gay characters dealing with homophobia in their communities.

She was Emmy-nominated for playing Jack's unhinged wife, Julia, on ATWT (that is, Jack's first unhinged wife, Julia, not the second one, played by Sarah Brown), moved on to Law & Order, and now will be appearing in the Off-Broadway debut of The Internationalist.

Monday, November 06, 2006

SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

Currently, on As the World Turns, a newly sprung from jail Craig Montgomery (Jeffrey Meek) is scheming to get his baby son, Johnny, away from Johnny's adoptive father, Dusty. Craig had a one-night stand with Johnny's mother, Jennifer (his former stepdaughter and girlfriend of his late son), but, knowing his true colors, Jennifer wanted Craig nowhere near her baby. Craig being put in jail allowed Dusty to adopt the baby and he's been raising the tot alone since Jennifer's death.

Meanwhile, on the current Search for Tomorrow episodes running on the AOL/PGP Classic Soaps channel, a jailed Warren Carter (Michael Corbett) is scheming to get his baby son, Jonah, away from Jonah's mother, Suzi, and adoptive father, Cagney. Warren was married to Suzi, but when his true colors were revealed (he was also sleeping with Suzi's stepsister, Wendy), Suzi wanted Warren nowhere near her son. Warren being put in jail allowed Suzi to have Cagney listed as Jonah's father.

In another fun coincidence, both Johnny and Jonah were soap miracle babies, each born after about four months gestation.

And here is the really cool part, right now on SFT, Cagney's brother, Quinn, is being played by none other than Jeffrey Meek, the current Craig!

Daytime viewers first fell in love with Frank Runyeon when he played manly, brooding, romantic Steve Andropolous on As the World Turns from 1980-1986. (He went on to appear on Santa Barbara, GH, Falcon Crest and AW; wonder whatever happened to that blonde girl he's holding in the picture?)

Runyeon graduated from the seminary after starring on numerous Hollywood shows. He will offer two presentations, "Sermon on the Mount" and "Hollywood vs. Faith." "Sermon on the Mount" is a candlelight performance in the church. It includes the Lord's Prayer and the Golden Rule and is one of the most well-known parts of the Bible. "Hollywood vs. Faith" uses humor to talk about living as a Christian with today's media values.

Seems Rick's wife, Mel (Yvonna Wright), just can not get behind his nostalgia for the Four Musketeer friendship Rick once shared with best friend, Phillip Spaulding, Beth, and Mindy Lewis.

Though they both grew up in Springfield, Rick and Phillip didn't become friends until 1982, when rich boy Phillip transferred from Lincoln Prep to Springfield High School. Phillip's dad, Alan Spaulding, gave Phillip a flashy sportscar and new buddy Rick promptly hopped behind the wheel for a joy-ride. When the cops stopped them for speeding, Phillip quickly switched places with Rick, who wasn't carrying his driver's license, and took the rap.

That summer, Phillip and Rick befriended a couple of new arrivals to Springfield. Spoiled rich girl Mindy Lewis, who instantly set her cap for Phillip, and shy, secretive Beth, whom Rick favored. The happy quartet went to the Senior Prom together, where, even though they were there with other people (Phillip with Mindy, Beth with Rick), Phillip and Beth were named King and Queen.

Afterward, unable to stay away from each other, Phillip and Beth snuck away during Mindy's eighteenth birthday party, and declared their love. Unfortunately, Beth's vengeful stepfather, Bradley Raines, followed the teens and maliciously spilled the beans about Alan not being Phillip's biological father. Hurt to discover that Rick had known the truth about his parentage all along, Phillip struck back at his friend by telling Rick about his secret tryst with Beth.

In 1984, Rick convinced Mindy to marry him even though she was carrying Phillip's child, telling her they'd raise the baby as their own. However, once Phillip found out, he insisted on marrying Mindy himself. The couple divorced after Mindy miscarried, but, by then, it was too late for Mindy and Rick to recapture their romance.

Four years later, unlucky in love Rick thought he'd finally found the woman of his dreams in beautiful Dr. Meredith Reade. But, after an argument with Rick, Meredith ended up falling into Phillip's bed (well, actually, they were at the lighthouse). Rick and Meredith reconciled and planned to wed - but, now it was Meredith who was pregnant with Phillip's child.

After Alan told Rick about Meredith carrying a Spaulding baby, Meredith went into premature labor. At the hospital, doctors forced Rick to choose which life to save, his wife's or her unborn baby's. No matter how painful it was for him, Phillip urged Rick to save Meredith. Despite Phillip's sacrifice of his own child, Rick still punched out his best friend and spat that he hated him.

"I know," Phillip replied. "But I still love you."

The pair reconciled in time for Rick to play hero and help Phillip out of his latest jam. In 1990, Phillip was accused of killing Neil, an unstable architect obsessed with Beth. Rick stole a corpse from the morgue so that Phillip could fake his own death and buy some time to clear his name.

At the same time, Mindy was once again deciding that Rick was the man for her. She rushed to tell him the news, only to discover that Rick had wed a grieving Beth, who was (all together now:) pregnant with Phillip's child. However, even though they shared a kiss after Lamaze class, as soon as Beth found out Phillip was alive, she went running to her true love, and they left town with baby Lizzie.

Poor Rick was foiled again. (But see, I told you there was a good reason for him being Beth's ex-husband).

In 2001, however, the tables were turned. Rick slept with Phillip's estranged wife, Harley, and she became pregnant with Rick's (finally!) baby.

After Harley gave birth to Jude, Phillip forgave his friend for the transgression (though, really, what business was it of his, he and Harley were divorced). When Rick lay dying from a heart ailment, he begged Phillip to help Harley raise Jude.

Fortunately, Rick recovered, wed Mel, fathered a daughter, Leah, with her and, for a while, all seemed to be going well.

But then Phillip flipped out and, in an attempt to save them from the evil of Springfield, kidnapped his own children (of which, as we can see from above, he has many) -- plus Jude.

Alan stopped his son from getting away with the tykes by shooting him, and Rick, as always, stepped up to the plate and helped Phillip fake his death (again) and flee.

This chain of events eventually led to the inadvertent killing of Phillip's uncle, Ross Marler, a fact Mel couldn't forgive.

But Beth, apparently, could.

Though now married to Alan (ewww...), with Phillip gone, Beth also followed Four Musketeer history and fell into an affair with everyone's not-Phillip go-to-guy, Rick.

Almost exactly twenty-five years after it all began, the Four Musketeers of Springfield are still trying to get it romantically right.